Category: Writing

You will need to read “The Pedestrian” and answer the following prompt in a well-written paragraph or two.
Prompt: Using evidence from the story:
1) identify the type of government in the story, and explain the government’s relationship with its citizens.
2) identify the theme of the story and provide textual evidence to support your claim.

has an introduction that introduces a topic and grabs thereader’s attention
clearly conveys information and ideas about a topic
develops a topic with a variety of specific, relevant details, such asfacts, examples, quotations, and anecdotes
clearly organizes ideas and information, using strategies such ascompare/contrast, cause/effect, definition, and classification
uses formatting, graphics, and multimedia, such as hyperlinkswhen appropriate
uses precise language and vocabulary appropriate to the topic
uses appropriate transition words and phrases that clarify therelationship among ideas
uses a formal style and tone
ends with a conclusion that summarizes the main points and followslogically from the information presented
follows the conventions of standard EnglishInformative/Explanatory Writing

This is a fun discussion question! If I were a teacher at Mr. Wrights school, I would make sure to send my welcome letter and invitation in various ways. I would start by sending home a physical letter and invite in the communication folder. After that I would send an email with PDF’s attached of what was sent home in the communication folder earlier in the week. Then I would follow up with a text or phone call to make sure that everyone received the welcome letter and invitation. In my welcome letter I would give them the outline of what will be happening at the back-to-school night. They might be curious why they are attending. I would keep it brief save some content for the actual event. I would also add a rsvp to the invitation, this way you know who knows about the event and who plans to attend. This is also a great way to reach extra to those families that are not responding. For parents who do not read English I might seek help from a colleague that can help translate my welcome letter and invitation into the appropriate language, and also request that an interpreter be in my room on back-to-school night to aid those parents. I might also add my own incentive to the parents just like Mr. Wright did for the teachers, maybe I would tell the students and families that if we win, we can have a pajama pizza party on me! comment as you see fit. min 40 words or more

Review the following case study:
Mr. Wright is the principal at the local elementary school and has been concerned about the lack of attendance from families for the school-sponsored Back to School Night. Teachers have an opportunity at the beginning of each year to set the tone for the school year and develop a working relationship with the parents of their students, therefore, parent attendance is crucial.
Mr. Wright has decided to have each teacher draft a personalized welcome letter along with an invitation for Back to School Night which will be sent home with the students. He hopes that this personal invitation will serve as an incentive for parents to attend. The Parent Teacher Organization has offered a prize of $100.00 in classroom supplies to the teacher in each grade level that has the highest attendance rates for the evening.
You are a teacher at this school and are tasked with writing a Welcome Letter and invitation to your parents. What will you include in your welcome letter and invitation to Back to School Night? How will you encourage participation? How can you ensure that parents who may not read English can be invited? Min 40 words or more.
Resources that may help:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.308.7083&rep=rep1&type=pdf
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/creating-welcoming-classroom-environment
https://cteonline.org/cabinet/file/c21c3833-ab72-4a06-b39b-3babbbdd88e6/Connect-With-Kids-and-Parents-of-Different-Cultures-_-Scholastic.pdf

Section ACase Study 1 (20 marks)Read the following hypothetical excerpt and based on your understanding of chapter 15 of the textbook answer the questions that follows.
The Suva Transport Union ClaimsThe Suva Transport Union (STU) enters into a contract with the State Transportation Authority of Fiji (STA). The agreement requires the STA to pay a yearly bonus to all of its STU members. However, a year after signing the contract, STA refuses to pay the annual compensation, which triggers a conflict between the STU and the STA. As a HR consultant, you have been requested by the ministry of labour to intervene and resolve the conflict between the two parties. Accordingly, the ministry requires you to submit a preliminary written report of your proposed course of action by this week.Question In three separate paragraphs (numbered as i, ii and iii) prepare a ministerial report on strategies to resolve the exiting standoff, paying particular attention to the following issues in your presentation. All discussion needs to be supported by appropriate examples, that is either from the case study or literature.
i) the economic implications of prolonged industrial conflict to employees and STA [6 marks]
ii) potential third party avenues and strategies at your disposal to resolve such conflicts [8 marks]
iii) the third part of your report is titled union-management cooperation(U-MC). Under this section discuss how both the STA and its employees being represented by STU could benefit through a U-MC initiative. [6 marks]
Case Study 2Walmart Refocuses Its Employee Retention Strategies (20 marks)For Walmart, the competitive environment keeps getting tighter. The company, which operates 5000 stores and employs more than 1.5 million people in the United States, is trying to stay ahead towards online shopping. Meanwhile, continually falling unemployment rates have been making employee retention difficult. Somehow the company needs to keep getting efficient (meaning spending less) while maintaining employee engagement.
Competing with online retailers, especially Amazon, requires low prices because price comparisons are easy online. It also replaces some demand for store employees and need for workers in warehouses and other parts of the distribution system. Walmart has addressed these challenges by restructuring work and closing some lower- performing stores, including more than five dozen Sam’s Club stores. The cuts free up money for offering more generous pay and benefits and for directing more resources to online retailing. Some of Sam’s Club stores that closed were to be converted to distribution centers.
The restructuring decisions include a revised approach to store management, with fewer assistant managers. Walmart also cut department managers in certain departments such as mobile phones, where it could bring in representatives from the phone service providers. In addition, store closures helped to set the stage for several rounds of layoffs: the downsizing of store payrolls by 16 000 and eliminating 7 000 back-office jobs in 2016, a layoff of 1 000 corporate positions in 2017, and the elimination of another 10 000 store jobs and 1000 headquarters employees in 2018. Automation has enabled a 15% reduction in the number of workers per square foot in stores. But many of the laid off employees, according to Walmart, were able to move to different positions within the company. At the same time, Walmart is placing more workers in warehouse jobs and store positions that fill online orders.
Simultaneously, the company cannot just be a job cutter and maintain its strength in the labour market. Even as it closes stores, Walmart has announced pay increases from $ 9 an hour starting pay in 2015 to $ 10 in 2017 and aiming to reach $ 15 an hour by 2021. Early in 2018, Walmart announced that it would spend about $ 400 million to give employees wage increases and onetime bonuses of up to $1000. The new hourly pay rate matched wages paid by Target and came closer to the $13 paid by Costco.
Walmart’s management appreciates the pay alone will not be enough to create employee engagement, especially for relatively low-paying retail jobs. So the company has announced other initiatives aimed at making the company a preferred employer. Along with the 2018 pay raises and bonuses, Walmart announced it would extend to store employees the paid family leave benefits previously available only to office workers. At the same time, the company promised to spend some of its savings from lower taxes on training. Months later, Walmart announced it would pay college tuition for employees who pursue degrees in business or supply chain management at three schools selected by Walmart. Finally, in a bit to make work more 4 comfortable, Walmart announced it would relax its blue-shirt-and-khakis dress code to allow a variety of solid-colour clothing.Questionsi) Discuss the circumstances that make employee retention challenging for organizations like Walmart. Support your discussion with specific examples from the case study [7 marks]
ii) Identify various impetus of job satisfaction Walmart provides to its employees to retain its employees. List and discuss two additional sources of job satisfaction that may help Walmart retain its employees. (You need to do some research on this aspect of the question). [7 marks]
iii) Evaluate the importance of employee retention to retail organisations like Walmart. Support your discussions with relevant examples. [6 marks] 5
Section B
Answer essay question in this section. Question is worth ten marks.Question 2An effective performance management system informs top performers of their value, encourages communication between managers and their employees, establishes consistent standards for evaluating employees, and helps the organization identify its most influential and weakest employees. Companies must think of effective performance management as a process, not an event, to meet these objectives.
Discuss any three ways a manager could schedule a performance feedback session to communicate its decision to its employees. Then explain a few corrective actions employers could implement to address employees’ lack of ability and motivation in their performance levels?
Attachments:
6818901_1_MG-106-Final-Assessement-questions.pdf